Are you thinking about a career in
mathematics? You might be surprised to learn that your job prospects can be
significantly enhanced with a good training in mathematics. At Monash we can
give you that training! Here are a few cases studies of some of our previous
students. You may be surprised at what jobs a mathematics graduate can do —
read on ...
New drugs are being tested all the time, but
who decides whether they work or not? Statisticians are important members of
the teams who design the clinical trials and then review the results. Often, a
specialised database containing the results is developed for each trial.
Pharmaceutical companies frequently contract with a statistical consulting
company to build and manage the database and then analyse and report their
findings based on the data provided by the clinical trial.
Kevin Howard is a statistician employed by a
consulting firm. He is often responsible for the development of databases and
the analysis of clinical trials. To do this he works closely with hospitals,
doctors, and medical researchers.
“It has been very exciting to work with doctors and pharmaceutical
companies operating at the forefront of medical research.”
When the Piper Alpha oil
platform caught fire and exploded, it claimed 167 lives. The Inquiry which
followed resulted in fundamental changes to the regulatory regime for the
offshore platform facilities around the world. Part of David Prest's role as a
lawyer in a leading petroleum company involves a contribution to this changing
focus in Australia.
David has combined a technical interest in
petroleum operations, aviation, shipping, pipelines and construction with a
knowledge of relevant statutes and regulations, and the role of government
authorities to fulfil his role in the company - to ensure the safety of
Australia's oil and gas facilities. His degrees in Law and Science have been
important to bridging the language gap between lawyers and engineers.
“In addition to my experience as a solicitor, I continually resort
to my training in mathematics and science when dealing with company engineers.
I regard my degree in Mathematics from Monash as the old kit
bag containing the tool for an effective career as a lawyer practising in
this area in one of Australia's vital industries.”
Suzanne Murphy thinks its great working in market research for a
major food manufacturer. Her skills at designing and analysing surveys,
knowledge of statistics and lateral thinking are
vital to the team effort required in marketing campaigns.
“Maths was always my favourite subject at school, so after Year 12
my first choice was to study law and science (majoring in maths) at Monash
University. In my second year at university I decided to major in statistics. I
noticed the newspapers had various job advertisements asking for statisticians.
I am pleased I studied maths and went into market research. I get
to deal with advertising agencies, marketing, graphic designers, and food
technologists. Heaps of variety and a very dynamic work environment.”
Greg Findlow works at the leading edge of pure
maths - writing codes. Greg works for a major telecommunications company. He
develops codes to encrypt private business information transmitted over
telephone lines via the Internet. Cryptology involves mathematical techniques
based primarily on number theory and algebra.
During vacation work at the telecommunications
company's research labs prior to finishing his degree, Greg discovered how
highly applicable Pure Maths can be. After finishing his degree he joined the
company and worked in several areas including analysis of signalling protocols
used in telecommunications, and assessment of error-correction codes used in digital
mobile phones.
Greg believes the clear thinking skills he
learnt in Pure Maths are useful in many non-mathematical areas of his work, and
that the solid foundation makes it easier for him to pick up extra maths
skills, such as statistics, when needed by the job.
“Pure Maths can be highly applicable to the real world. The work
opening up for mathematicians because of the telecommunications revolution is
just one example.”
Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Computer
Science make a powerful combination. Murray Rudman's skills and knowledge are
sought by fellow scientists, industry and environmentalists alike. Working for
CSIRO, he models the flow of gases in galaxies, the flow of water in rivers, or
the flow of molten metals in industrial processes.
While at school and then at Monash University, Murray realised
that to understand the real world (and the universe) around me, a sound
knowledge of mathematics was essential. Running behind many of the problems he
found interesting was a set of equations that have been known for several
hundred years; they describe the motions of liquids and gases. Taking only a
few lines to write down, these equations are incredibly difficult to solve.
To solve the equations, Murray learnt a new type of
mathematics based on converting the exact equations into a set of approximate
equations that could be solved using a computer.Computational Fluid Dynamics (or
CFD) is widely used to help predict the weather; design rockets, planes ships,
and cars; the flow of water in rivers, bays and oceans; and a wide range of
industrial processes.
“It is not a simple matter of running a package bought from a
software supplier. Many problems are so specialised that individual computer
code must be written. This requires a good knowledge of physics, the equations
that describe the problem and the mathematics of implementing the solution on
the largest and fastest computers available.
To say that studying maths has helped me in my career is an
understatement. I have a career that allows me to gain insight into the real
world around me. This is a long way from my early years at high school when I
found maths rather boring with no obvious reason for most of the things we had
to learn.”
Predict the future to make money - that's what
Ernie Chow does for an investment funds manager. His skill in developing
differential equations to model future trends in the stock market, along with
his ability to solve those same equations means he can predict the future. Or
at least do it as well as science will currently allow.
“I studied maths because I was interested in the subject. When I
started to look for work I found my skills were highly regarded. Many different
jobs were open to me. Quantitative skills are highly regarded.”
Michael Tomlinson develops specialised
software to generate 3-dimensional graphics on computer screens. His team at a
major software company creates the front end or user interface for radar
systems.
“Studying both maths and computing means I have a real edge in
developing fast, efficient code. It has proven very useful with my 3D graphics
work.”
Statistical techniques are widely used to
ensure the efficient operation of manufacturing plants. Mark Sampson worked as
an industrial statistician in the Research Centre for a major Australian
aluminium manufacturer. His work ranged from training staff and advising them
on the correct statistical techniques to use for a particular experiment,
through to performing complex analysis on the results of plant test-runs.
Mark has recently moved into a role where he
is responsible for whole projects, not just the statistical side. The logical
thinking and systematic approach to experiments taught in maths are vital in
his new position.
“My training in statistics was essential, no only to be able to
consult on such a wide variety of statistical problems, but it also gave me an
excellent understanding of the important issues to be considered when conducting
research.”
Graham Phillips' applied mathematics PhD was
in astrophysics - trying to work out how clouds of dust and gas in the galaxy
give birth to stars. After graduating from Monash University, Graham's first
job was in environmental science at CSIRO, looking at how air pollutants move
through the atmosphere. Then he worked with hydrologists, trying to figure out
how much groundwater under Perth could be safely pumped out without depleting
the reserves. His next job was with civil engineers looking at the motion of
oil tankers in rough seas. He has worked as a combustion engineer, seeking ways
to improve the efficiency of gas flames.Since then he has worked as a
journalistand commentator, including as an authorof several books on popular
science and also as a presenter on the television programs Beyond Tomorrow, Hot
Chips and Quantum. Most recently he has been a host and presenter on the
Catalyst science program on ABC-TV.
“If you are after variety and flexibility in your career, go with
applied maths.”
by:mathsosiality
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